Women and men, if you had $200 billion to spend, how would you spend it?

[JackRiddler]

Just asking.

The market's all high on the latest liquidity giveaway from the Fed, and half the traders on the floor are more excited about the demise of Spitzer.

So what would you do if you could zap $200 billion out of nothing?

[jlake]

1. Buy a private island, a private jet a yacht and a private army

and get out of this vile country.

[AX10]

2. May I join you?

[jlake]

5. Absolutely. We can launch a 24/7 Hillary worship network and broadcast ir

'round the world.

[Birthmark]

3. Buy a plot of land

...and live simply. Set a bit aside for my son. The rest I'd give away, probably all but a million or less in the end. There's just not much that I want and even less that I need.

[Jamastiene]

31. I would buy a plot of land too,

and live frugally. The plot of land I would buy would be mostly wooded and probably in northern California. I would build a simple medium sized house and live off the rest, giving donations to charities on occasion. I would build a small music recording studio for less than $10,000 and that would be the extent of my frivolous spending. The rest would be banked and split between checking and savings.

[Birthmark]

32. Northern California?!

Bu-but you have a North Carolina avatar! That's where I'd buy my plot of land...out in the mountains, maybe Swain County or Graham County. It's nice country and surprisingly empty in some areas. And the land tends to stay in one place and not jump around like it does in California. :)

[2rth2pwr]

4. A night with this Kristen chick

that everybodys talking about.

[JackRiddler]

13. Dude, you could buy a country full of Kristens...

threesomes, foursomes, fivesomes till you croaked.

[Angela Shelley]

28. If you eat enough lobster, it begins to taste like soap..

(from Dave Ramsey, Dumping Debt)

[JackRiddler]

40. Yup.

[cloudythescribbler]

6. Mostly spend it on "eco-industrialization" in the US and around the world

[Double T]

7. The dollar will become totally worthless if this kind of crap continues.

What a bunch of election year bribery. Expect an economic and financial crash AFTER the November elections.

[JackRiddler]

14. Will?...

They'll never hold this fort until November. Remember, the rest of the world is holding the worthless dollars. They don't give a crap about McCain.

[Double T]

20. bushco and the FED are doing EVERYTHING possible to delay........

the crash until the two WH economic and financial bunglers can make their getaway.

[JackRiddler]

22. Nevertheless, they don't have supernatural powers.

There is no way to disguise the economic and financial situations anymore, or to prevent creditors from trying to call their debts in first, before defaults (thus leading to defaults). There is no way to control what the rest of the world will do, or to make the oil price go down (which was never the intent, of course, high prices is what they wanted).

In fact, you're getting me thinking all they have left is to try the Iran insanity after all.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Macaroni and Cheese on Tuesday as well as Friday!

I would invest the other $199,999,999,997.51

My needs are easily satisfied.

--p!

[Greyhound]

9. Repair, rebuild and expand the national infrastructure.

Underwrite the funding to build community hospitals and start a massive academic scholarship program.

And still have more than enough left so that I and everyone I love to live in luxury for the rest of our lives.












At least that's what I'd do tonight...

[drmeow]

10. I would

1) Pay off my house and the houses of all my family members
2) Try to find a way to save/invest enough where I could quit my job (with the economy where it is these days, I'm not sure what would be the best method and how much to save)
3) Do everything I can to make my house eco-friendly
4) Try to buy a local media source (radio/newspaper/TV) and give it a REAL liberal bias
5) Buy up as much undeveloped land on as many continents as I can and try to lock it down as tightly as I can to prevent it from every being developed (especially wetlands, threatened habitats, etc)
6) Donate to a/some charities that are working towards eco-friendly ways to empower the powerless and promote peace, self-sufficiency, independence from organizations like the World Bank, etc.

Edited to say

7) Add some of what greyhound1966 wants to do.

[rumpel]

11. Oooooooo

first let's get people off the streets...build self-sustaining interim/transitional communities for the homeless - everywhere

assist in paying for solar and other renewable energy retrofitting...

freeze interest on mortgage and make it so everyone pays the same for the same amount borrowed

medical care...hmmm - perhaps we need more than 200B





:think:

[Jed Dilligan]

12. Invest it in the economy of a struggling third world country

and then immediately run for President-for-Life!

[Swamp Rat]

18. I'd build some water treatment plants.

[Initech]

15. I'd buy the state of California and turn it into a soverign nation.

And then declare myself supreme dictator.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Five words: Nudist Colony On The Moon. nt

[Swamp Rat]

17. Free myself from SallieMae and every other student currently her slave.

I'd use the rest to rebuild homes here in New Orleans, and to build a recycling plant.

[conflictgirl]

24. A-fucking-men to getting free of Sallie Mae

I wish I'd known, truly known, what I was getting mixed up in.

[TML]

19. Invest in Berkshire Hathaway

Hey, you asked. :evilgrin:

[Sanctified]

21. I would start a chocolate factory and hire a bunch of Umpa Lumpas.

Just kidding, if I had that kind of cash I would own about 400 acres of land and have a compound and I would have a stock pile of food, ammo and pretty much everything else for when everything goes to shit and cash is worth nothing.

[JackRiddler]

23. Think bigger!

You can have what you described for a billion or less!

[krispos42]

25. I would buy Clear Channel

and make it a private company again, all mine.

And then have at least one FM station in every important city in the country blasting liberal talk radio 24/7. A mix of Air America, Jones Radio, and Nova M.

And no more Golden Oldies. Ugh.

[Demeter]

26. Assassins

Since impeachment is off the table....and I refuse to spend another dime on DINOs.

[dipsydoodle]

27. Read this post for an analogy

Germany money after WW I (How many parallels to Germany are there?)

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2995194

Maybe the $200 billion wouldn't buy so much after all.

[Cruzan]

29. Design some sort of modular, prefab school complex

complete with restrooms, cafeterias, student uniforms, drinkable water, teacher and custodial salaries, etc. etc. and just flood the third world with them. If done right with economies of scale and on donated land, $200 billion could build and fund a huge number of schools for a good while. Maybe build as many the money could sustain for 15 or 20 years. Hopefully by then the benefits of a better educated local population and donations from successful graduates might make a fair number of them self sustaining.

[BB1]

30. That's only fifty euros!

I'd take it to the coffeeshop and get myself 5 grams:)

Now serious: 100 billion could convert most of the industrialized world from combustion engines to hydro-powered engines.
The other half I'd spend on education in China.

O <--- This is your brain
. <--- This is your brain under Bush

[Buns_of_Fire]

33. Probably just piss it away on beer.

But it would be really good beer (for a change). :beer:

[lildreamer316]

34. Give give give give GIVE.

Lord, I know so many ppl could be helped by that.
All I want for myself is my dream (historic) house, and a bit of fallback money.

[Perry Logan]

35. Among other things, I'd hire someone to write me some good software.

I love the fantasy of having software written to my specs. Maybe I could do it if I were a ditzy billionaire.

[Vinca]

36. Anyone remember the television show "The Millionaire?"

He ran around giving away money. That would be me and I'd enjoy every minute of it.

[Buns_of_Fire]

37. "Our next millionaire, Mike..." (as he handed him the envelope)

Good ol' John B. Tipton. My man.

[Vinca]

38. That's the guy. Wouldn't it be fun? nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

39. You bet. It's always been my dream to be able to do something like that.

On a smaller scale, we can always loan deserving people money. Like Kiva.org does..... http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=home

[Javaman]

41. Begin the process of national healthcare. nt

[Wcross]

42. Hookers for everyone! n/t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. First, put money aside for my kids, ex-husband and best friends.

Buy a modest home with great views and a place to keep horses and goats. 2 reasonable new cars (nothing too glitzy..Toyota Avalon?, 4WD Suburu?). Put away enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life.

I'll give the rest of the money away to many causes. Education (scholarships, grants, teacher subsidies,infrastructure), animal welfare, inner and suburban youth facilities. Set up free childcare facilities and community health care clinics. Set up free concerts throughout the country. Buying a media news outlet sounds good too.